World Cup 2010: Holland v Spain – World Cup Final

At last, out of the thirty two nations that started off their campaign in the World Cup we are left with two; Holland & Spain fight it out on Sunday evening for the right to be crowned the World champions as they do battle at Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg.

Neither team has won this event before, so history is in the making for either the Dutch or the Spanish tonight. Spain though have tasted recent success in winning the European Championship in 2008, and they are in line to become only the second nation (behind Germany) to achieve the ‘double’ – winning the World Cup after winning the Championship.

But Van Marwijk’s side have more of a steely presence about them this time around, with Van Bommel and De Jong anchoring the defensive midfield down efficiently, whilst giving license to Sneijder and Robben to make forward runs and assisting Van Persie up front – indeed Sneijder weighing in with five goals has equalled a Dutch record for World Cup goals in this tournament and remains the biggest threat to Spain’s chances of lifting another trophy.

Spain’s fortunes have improved when they discarded the ineffective Torres with the introduction of Fabregas and Pedro – both players injecting some speed and ingenuity to an otherwise sterile attack. And if not for David Villa and his clinical finishing, we would not be seeing the Spanish in this final, let alone the knock-out phase I fancy.

This match, more than any other in this tournament, I feel solely centres around who can dominate the midfield, and what a battle we have on our hands as both midfields certainly possess the personnel to damage the other.

The probable line-ups are as follows;

Holland – Stekelenburg, Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst, Van Bommel, De Jong, Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt, Van Persie

Spain – Casillas, Ramos, Pique, Puyol, Capdevilla, Busquet, Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Torres or Pedro, Villa.

In my opinion, both sides are very evenly matched, and I can’t pick between them; both possess creative and defensively sound midfields, both have the ability to concede a silly goal.

Therefore, I’m picking a stalemate at 90 minutes to take us to extra time and perhaps penalties for the right to lift the trophy of the world’s most prodigious event.

Pick: Draw at 90 minutes normal time @ 3.47 with Titanbet the best price I could find.